about

Public Record: Pittsburgh is a series of hauntings; ghostly recollections of people lost to history but for their sole transgressive act.

The pieces included are poems written with text sampled from 19th-century Pittsburgh crime reports. These audio pieces are designed to be listened to in the locations in which the original crimes occurred - as designated on the accompanying map - to experience the ghostly anachronism of history's lost souls.

But even outside the appropriate landscape, Public Record: Pittsburgh paints a baroque image of a unique American city, looking at a time when shifting populations, technologies, and even morals meant that change was the city's only constant.

credits

Public Record: Pittsburgh was created by Justin Hopper as Old/New Media Artist in Residence with Encyclopedia Destructica and Deeplocal. This project was supported in part by a Seed Award from The Sprout Fund.

Concept, writing, research, and direction by Justin Hopper. Audio produced by Herman "Soy Sos" Pearl and Justin Hopper at Tuff Sound Recording. Readings by Justin Hopper, Christiane Leach, Alexi Morrissey, Herman "Soy Sos" Pearl, and Adrienne Wehr. Original music and soundscapes by Herman "Soy Sos" Pearl. Music on "Dawn in a Big City" by David Bernabo and Nathan Hall. Music on "Done by Instruments" by David Bernabo.